The problem of air loss due to the puncturing of air-containing articles such as pneumatic tires has been long appreciated. A number of divergent approaches for sealing holes formed in the articles have been adopted. One of the earliest methods of repair, and as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 628,192, involved introduction of India rubber into an air tube partly filled with fibrous material in a loose, flocculent or fluffy condition. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,055,797 a relatively non-flowing, self-sealing composition containing masticated rubber is disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,018 discloses yet another self-sealing rubber composition. More recently, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,860,539 and 3,881,537, aqueous dispersions of adhesives and finely divided rubber particles have also been employed as tire sealants.
The problems revolving about wheel imbalance have also been long extant. Balancing compositions have been developed utilizing free moving globular materials, such as buckshot, and free flowing liquids -- such as mercury. Most recently, the use of particulate flowable weighting material, such as bentonite or barite, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,436,551.